Dude looks like a lady… kinda

Each year on the Tuesday before Halloween, thousands of Washingtonians come out to Dupont Circle for the annual High Heel Race. Dupont is the center of DC’s gay community and the high heel drag race is an event where a bunch of men dressed in drag and other crazy costumes come out and put on a mini-parade which culminates in a race down 17th Street. I’ve been attending religiously for the past 4 or 5 years and I heart it.

I had a pretty bad day today. Got some awful news that completely bummed me out. I almost didn’t go but as I was sitting at home on my sofa I thought to myself, “What better way is there to pull yourself out of a funk than to go to something so ridiculous?” So I got up and went and I’m super glad I did.

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This is me and my bud, Kojo. I brought him to the race for the first time last year. It took some convincing, but after last year’s event I think he was hooked. Now he’s my drag race road dawg ;) Continue reading →

Which came first, the chicken or the ‘X’?

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Oh Eldra… Could that really be you in both of these photos? Say it ain’t so.

El DeBarge, the love of my life from like 1985 thru 1997, has been arrested yet again on drug possession charges. He’s been in trouble a lot in recent years, and I’m really hoping he can get it together and make a comeback! Hahaha… I am so kidding. Although a few years ago when he was performing at this little lounge in DC, me and a couple of my girls were super geeked to go out to see him. But we only wanted to hear the old stuff. His stuff was classic, Rhythm of the Nite, I Like it, You Wear It Well, All This Love… El DeBarge (and DeBarge as a whole) is one of those artists you don’t want to hear anything new from, because if it’s not fantastic it could taint their near-perfect discography. I feel the same way about Frankie Beverly and Maze. Just keep touring with the hits — put out another greatest hits album with the songs arranged in a different order and I’ll buy it. Just don’t go back into the studio!!!

El was clearly hopped up when we saw him… but he sounded damn good. It’s so sad to see your favorite artists go thru tough times, but then you remember they’re just normal people. Everyone has an addict relative that can’t get their stuff together. My friend Herbie does a joke about how we need to stop being outraged when athletes commit crimes and recognize that criminals sometimes have other skills. (I’m paraphrasing here… but it goes something like…) “We need to stop saying ‘I can’t believe that basketball player assaulted that woman’ and start saying ‘Wow, that rapist has a great jumpshot.'”

And it’s so true. We don’t know how long he’s been at this. I’m sure he didn’t start getting high the first night he was arrested… Perhaps we shouldn’t look at El DeBarge (or any other artist in his situation) as a singer with a substance abuse problem. Maybe we should look at him as a drug addict with a nice falsetto.

I hope you get some help, El! We miss you  man.

PHI 27, ATL 14 — a photo essay

Yay! So thanks to my BFF Angi who works for the Atlanta Falcons (for like 2 more months… PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don’t leave!!!), I was able to score tickets for me and my pop to the PHI/ATL game in Philly this afternoon. I was super excited as you can imagine — I don’t think I’ve been to a Philly game in like 3 years.

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This is me and my boy John. He is from Atlanta and he’s a Falcon fan. We did a show together on Thursday nite and took this picture to commemorate our friendship. John seemed to think that no matter the outcome of today’s game, one of us would talk so much crap, our friendship would be over. Knowing that my team was going to win, I assured him that I was a better sport than that. Yet somehow he didn’t believe me. I know right… ME??? Talking trash about football??? ;)

Never.

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The Phillies were playing at home tonite as well, so pretty much everyone in the stadium was decked out in gear for both teams. There were signs everywhere begging the Eagles fans to give up their parking spaces and cut the tailgating short for the World Series attendees. Yeah, good luck with that… Continue reading →

I’m not even gonna hate

So I just received the photo below via e-mail from someone whose friend took the photo at a Palin rally this morning.

I wanted to be angry, but I totally couldn’t ;) Because even though — in my opinion — the message and intent of this sign are potentially inflammatory and completely at odds with what I believe to be true, I cannot deny that it made me chuckle.

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During the 2000 presidential election fiasco when I worked for CNN, we would set up camp each morning in front of the Supreme Court waiting for a decision and recording the daily protests and the loonies that participated in them. If I had a scanner, I’d post some of those photos for y’all. OH THE COSTUMES! One woman came out every day with her toddler covered in three-hole-punch paper — he was a dimpled chad. Another guy dressed up as “The Gore-inch who tried to steal the election” — complete with full-on green body paint. I am so serious… Although I was on the other side of the argument I couldn’t help but laugh at some of the stuff they came up with.

Funny is funny. And as a comic, I cannot hate.

It’s time to come clean

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Ok, so now that OJ has been convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping, and is clearly going away for a very long time, I think it’s time that African Americans across the country finally come clean about how we feel/have always felt about him.

Come on y’all…

I’m thinking at the next National Black General Body (NBGB) Meeting, we should issue some kind of official joint statement or press release that lets the rest of the country/world know that we as a community are glad this murderous fool is finally going to prison — and that none of us actually thought he was innocent back in ’95. BTW, if you actually clicked that link looking for information on a nationwide Negro meet (I knew it wasn’t just an urban myth…) you should really be embarrassed. Sarcasm is the air that I breathe, people.

Take a whiff.

As it’s been reported numerous times over the past decade and a half or so, Black folks in this country were never so naive as to believe OJ wasn’t a cold-blooded murderer. In fact, the only Black people who believe OJ was innocent also believe in unicorns… and time travel… and that Michael Jackson is the biological father of three White children. It’s just that after decades of seeing tons of non-Black violent criminals acquitted, and maybe equally as many Black folks wrongly convicted of crimes… we felt like we were due for a little high-fiving and dancing in the streets.

Can you blame us?

Any sensible person watching that Bronco chase knew damn well that fool was guilty. And we’ve been saying for years that OJ needed to take his Black ass somewhere and sit down — take the Cutco set to the pawn shop and be thankful for his freedom. But dude couldn’t leave well enough alone… When he wrote that “If I Did It” book, I was sick to my stomach. Thank God it was never released. And when I first heard about this latest case, I started rubbing my hands together… (Oh I hope they get yo’ behind this time, Orenthal!!!)

And they did. So Hooray! Poof, be gone.

Hating and Debating

OK, so Sarah Palin didn’t do nearly as badly as I had hoped she would. I can’t even lie… But I’m not gonna let a little thing like that stand in the way of the hateration I’ve been waiting all week to spew. She didn’t crash and burn, but she didn’t really answer the questions either. I blame Gwen Ifill.

My favorite pundit quote of the nite so far came from Harold Ford after being asked how he thought Palin performed. He said, and I quote:

Well … she had a set of answers to a set of questions. Even if those questions were not asked.

Tee hee ;) … Before the debate started, I enlisted some of my friends to send me their best “Sarah Palin B*tch, PLEASE” photos. I thought this would be fun.

It would’ve been way more fun(ny) if she had sucked worse.

Name: Me
Age: 30
Location: Washington, DC

“No really… Say ‘NU-CU-LAR’ one more time…”

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Name: Dana
Age: The “new” 20
Location: Clinton, MD

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Name: Roman
Age: 6 1/2 months
Location: Atlanta, GA

“I don’t even know what you’re saying, but I don’t believe you … Now what is that smell?

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Name: Mo
Age: Old enough to know better
Location: Washington, DC

“This is me reacting to Sarah Palin’s mention of fighting for women’s rights. Hmmm… was she referring to her fight to overthrow Roe v. Wade?…”

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Name: Kingston
Age: 6 months
Location: Washington, DC

“I am a dog and I cannot even bear to listen to your shrill ass voice.”

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Name: She pleads the fizzith
Age: <, >, or = 30
Location: Atlanta, GA

“I’m going out for some Toasted Oats…’Cause this chick is trippin'”

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Name: Diana
Age: 100 (according to her MySpace page)
Location: New York, NY

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The Brotha with the banjo

Not quite as artistic as Henry O. Tanner’s “The Banjo Lesson”…

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But it’s way funnier ;)

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This is me and very good friend/godsend/all-around-amazing guy Odyssey Michaels in the green room at the Richmond Funnybone. Don’t ask for an explanation. I was there and I don’t have one. Suffice it to say, he actually does play the banjo.

You’re welcome.